Moore pain: M’s lose game and catcher against Rays

Tampa Bay’s Willy Aybar, second from right, jumps into his teammates at home plate after his walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 3-2 victory over the Mariners on Saturday. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Not sure which was more painful Saturday, a foot injury to Mariners catcher Adam Moore, seeing the M’s blow a late-game lead and lose 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth at Tampa Bay or listening to analyst Tim McCarver try to pronounce Matt Tuiasosopo’s name on the Fox national television broadcast.

The Mariners’ bullpen couldn’t back up a beautiful start by Jason Vargas, with Brandon League failing to hold a 2-1 lead in the eighth and Jesus Colome surrendering a game-winning home run by Willy Aybar in the ninth.

These are the kind of losses that hurt a little bit more, much like Thursday’s 6-5 loss in Baltimore when the bullpen squandered a strong start by Felix Hernandez as League gave up five runs in the eighth.

So, yeah, the bullpen isn’t looking nearly as strong as expected this season and the loss of Mark Lowe to a lower back injury last week has loomed large.

Now the catching health is becoming an issue. With Rob Johnson already limited by a stiff back, Moore came up gimpy while stretching for the bag on an infield single in the eighth inning Saturday.

Moore stayed in the game, but then pulled up at second when Ichiro Suzuki followed with what would have been a double to right field.

Manager Don Wakamatsu called it “an unfortunate injury,” saying he thought Moore had suffered only a bruised heel originally, but then seemed to twist his knee while running to second.

While neither injury is believed serious and Moore might only be out a few days, the Mariners clearly need to bring up another catcher. So what are their options there?

The assumption is Josh Bard is next in line as a veteran signed as a free agent in the offseason with 521 games of big-league experience over the past eight years with four different clubs.

Josh Bard

Bard, 32, brings a decent bat and career .259 batting average, but he didn’t overly impress the Mariners with his defensive work in training camp and has been splitting time with Eliezer Alfonso in Tacoma.

Bard and Alfonso have each caught 17 games for the Rainiers. Bard is hitting .237 with two home runs and 12 RBIs, a .294 on-base percentage and .407 slugging percentage.

Alfonso, 31, isn’t nearly as experienced as Bard, but has played parts of the past four seasons with the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, hitting .238 with 15 home runs in 475 at-bats.

This season in Tacoma, Alfonso — who signed as a minor-league free agent — is batting .258 with no home runs and five RBIs. He has a .303 on-base percentage and .323 slugging mark.

The Mariners also have two AA catchers — Guillermo Quiroz and Luis Oliveros — who could be candidates as well.

Guillermo Quiroz

Quiroz, 28, is a journeyman who has seen spot duty in the major leagues in each of the past six seasons with Toronto, Texas, Baltimore and Seattle. He’s hit .206 with two home runs and 28 RBIs in 248 career at-bats.

But Quiroz appears the hottest of the minor-league catchers this season, batting .346 with three home runs, 15 RBIs and a healthy .577 slugging percentage in 21 games with West Tennessee.

The Venezuelan played in four games for the Mariners last year, going 4-for-14 (.286) while Seattle went 2-2 in his starts when Kenji Johjima was on the disabled list in late May.

Oliveros, 26, is coming back this season after missing all of last year with a torn knee ligament. He’s only caught 11 games thus far, but is also hitting relatively well at .313 with two home runs and five RBIs.

So while the logical guess is Bard would get the call if Moore is out, it wouldn’t be stunning to see either Alfonso or Quiroz brought up instead.

It helps a bit that both minor-league clubs aren’t too far from Tampa Bay, where the Mariners play Sunday at 10:40 a.m. with Cliff Lee against Matt Garza in an excellent pitching matchup.

West Tennessee is currently playing at home, while Tacoma happens to be on the road in Tennessee as well this weekend playing at Nashville, which is about 600 miles from Tampa.